1.8 Native-Language Support

This release of C++ supports the development of applications in languages other than English, including most European languages, Chinese, and Japanese. As a result, you can easily switch your application from one native language to another. This feature is known as internationalization.

In general, the C++ compiler implements internationalization as follows:

• C++ recognizes ASCII characters from international keyboards (in other words, it has keyboard independence and is 8-bit clean).

• C++ allows the printing of some messages in the native language.

• C++ allows native-language characters in comments, strings, and data.

• C++ supports only Extended UNIX Character (EUC) compliant character sets in which every null byte in a string is the null character and every byte in the string with the ASCII value of / is the / character.

Variable names cannot be internationalized and must be in the English character set.

You can change your application from one native language to another by setting the locale. For information on this and other native-language support features, see the operating system documentation.